Nice adriatic itinerary, wonderful on-board service, below average food.

Azamara Pursuit Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 2

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5
Verified Review
Azamara Pursuit

9 Night Dalmatian Coast (Venice To Athens)

Sail date: September 17, 2024

Ship: Azamara Pursuit

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 6002

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 26 days ago

Review summary

Azamara is positioned similar to Regent or Oceania, however it does not execute as well as those. The ship is well appointed and even though it's 20+ yrs old, the last dry dock was 2018 and they did a good job in updating the ship. Regular cabins are tiny, the ocean club suites are very spacious and well appointed. Food is average at best; Specialty dining is 8/10 overall good but some execution flaws with seafood (crabcakes, lobster, scallops). General dining is not good; Powdered oily eggs, some frozen items. For lunch I stuck with salads and burgers which are easy to execute. Service was exceptional. Also itinerary is good as all days there's a port call and generous time to spend on each, however a couple of ports (Argostoli and Olympia) were filler ports. Embarkation was confusing; The customer service team couldn't confirm if we needed to show up to Venice Marittima or Chioggia. We showed up at Marittima and there was no signage of Azamara personnel. After 3 stops within the port we finally found them and the took us to the ship. Had I know that we could embark myself in Chioggia, we could have driven ourselves. Accounting/Guest relations/Bill settlement was very confusing; A day before disembarking I requested a balance of my total vacation charges, the staff provided a balance of $380 debit. I spent an additional $100 and expected $480 the last day I was charged $1,424. While I requested a balance for the total spend, guest relations only gave me the balance for the amount while on board and did not clarify of the extra $948 spent on prepaid tours before embarkation date, so beware that any charges prior to embarkation are not included in partial balances while on board. In Summary. Excellent itineraries and Service, Fair ship and amenities, Average to below average food and some process flaws keep Azamara a tad below its more established comparable peers.

Embarkation

3 out of 5
Could be much better organized with local transportation. I called customer service 24hrs before to confirm embarkation point and they couldn't confirm if it was Venice Marittima, Fusina or Chioggia. Documents mentioned all three. Showed up to Venezia Marittima and my name wasn't on the bus list. Had to sign waivers. Had I known it was Chioggia I would have take a taxi there..

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5
The specialty dining was good 4/5. Very good except for the execution of some of the seafood dishes (crab cakes greasy, lobster was shrimp size). The general dining was below average for what's supposed to be a premium cruise line. Unless you have an owners suite where breakfast is quite good, the general buffet had powdered eggs, limited fruit , some of it frozen, etc. Similar to what you would see at Carnival or Royal Caribbean. Lunch wasn't too different

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
Not many activities on board, however it's a small ship so I had low expectations and it met them. The gym could use a bit more cardio equipment. Only 2 ellipticals and treadmills.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Small ship, mediocre singers except for the lead singer who was good. Again I wasn't expecting much here

Children's Programs

No children

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
The service was exceptional. Comparable to Regent and Oceania. Almost as good as Seaborn.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
Old ship but very well maintained and very clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Large suite, 500 sqft with large bathroom. Very clean and comfortable.

Ship tip

If you are used to traveling with Regent, Oceania or Seaborn, get the owners suite. Azamara is priced 40% below similar room category, however with an owners suite (Similar price to an ocean view suite on Seaborn) you get much more space. Service is similar or even better as you have a cabin butler. Food is not nearly as good.

Ports of call

Venice, Italy Did not visit port

I visited on my own

Rovinj, Croatia Did not visit port

The Captain cancelled the port allegedly because Italian Authorities did not release the ship until 07/18 at aprox 1PM

Sibenik, Croatia

4 out of 5
The shipped went to Zadar which is a quaint little town. 2hrs max to explore. I hired a private driver through Yuri, the offshore cruise director who did an exceptional job in arranging < 24hrs prior and therefore I was able to explore Sibenik and Split.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

5 out of 5
I did not do an excursion. The town is gorgeous and deserves full day experience. Possibly the highlight of the trip

Kotor, Montenegro

5 out of 5
The tour was good. The Montenegri Fjords are astonishing and the towns beautiful

Corfu, Greece

5 out of 5
The best tour operator in the trip. Showed us towns in the island with incredible scenery, was informed and accommodating. Since we had enough time to explore afterwards we went to the town of Corfu which is ver nice

Argostoli, Kefalonia, Greece

2 out of 5
The island is lacking charm. Feels like a filler stop.

Katakolon (Olympia), Greece Did not visit port

Reviews that other than a few run down ruins in Olympia there's not much to see

Souda (Chania), Crete

4 out of 5
The venetian port is gorgeous. The countryside views are nice.

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

4 out of 5
The city is one of the cradles of civilization. Acropolis was impressive. Unfortunatelly due to traffic and the tour operators committed to dropping us at the hotel before 1, we didn't stop at the Panathenaic stadium which is worthwhile. We stayed another day and saw the National Archeological museum and the Panathenaic stadium as well as other nice ruins (Zeus temple, "Modern" athena temple.

Disembarkation

3 out of 5
Disembarkation was swift, however tour operators were not ready for us so we parted late.
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